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ISE 2011 sets new benchmark for AV tradeshows with world record attendance

Sustaining a period of continuous year-on-year growth since the event’s inception in 2004, this year’s ISE attracted a record 34,870 attendance to the Amsterdam RAI between 1-3 February. This total represents a 22% increase on last year’s figure, and is the highest attendance achieved by any standalone AV tradeshow anywhere in the world. (Tobias Franke)

ISE 2011 record attendance

Attendees saw innovations and solutions from 715 exhibitors – including 150 new companies and representing an 11% rise on ISE 2010 – covering some 26,650 net square metres of floor space. The latter figure seems certain to be surpassed again in 2012, after on-site exhibitor rebooking resulted in 102% of the 2011 floor plan being reserved. Organiser Integrated Systems Events had already confirmed that the 2012 show would occupy an expanded footprint, with the addition of Hall 7 to the 2011 layout. Mike Blackman, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events, enthuses: “We have had a fantastic three days here in Amsterdam, our show aisles being packed with technology buyers and specifiers from the moment we opened on Tuesday morning to the doors closing at 6pm on Thursday.” While a detailed analysis of the show’s attendance profile has yet to be completed, some clear trends have already emerged. “ISE has a distinctive European flavour but it is increasingly a forum for global business,” Blackman explains. “We have had substantial visitor growth from Russia, the Middle East, Africa and the Indian sub-continent, and are also hosting significant numbers of consultants and top-level integrators from Asia and North America.” Attendees were drawn to ISE 2011 by its unique mix of systems technology for both commercial and residential applications; by an extended pre-show Conference programme embracing the InfoComm Future Trends Summit and Wainhouse Visual Communications Summit for the first time; and by enhanced educational offerings from not-for-profit trade associations CEDIA and InfoComm International, the show’s co-owners. New pavilions and show features dedicated to 3D applications, digital signage content, audio-video networking and much more were also high on the event agenda. Above all, ISE 2011 strengthened its reputation as a creator of new business opportunities for every link in the systems integration value chain. “The feelgood factor on our show floor was more powerful than we’ve experienced at any previous ISE,” Blackman concludes. “We promoted the show with the slogan ‘all the connections you need’, and our level of exhibitor rebooking indicates that this is not an empty promise. “Visitors to ISE benefit not just from viewing new products, but from seeing them in the context of wider application and market developments. This is not a gadget show – it is a platform on which attendees can gather and discuss new ways of applying technological innovations to deliver value to their customers. “ISE is a barometer for business sentiment and if our show is anything to go by, the systems integration industry is set for a very rewarding year indeed.”